On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 3:13 PM, meekerdb <[email protected]> wrote:
while consciousness may just the data processing feels, there are obviously > going to be different feelings about different data processing (e.g. hope, > fear, lust,...) > Yes. > > So I think the interesting question is which data processing goes with > which feeling. If I make a robot that does processing X, what will it > feel? > There is only one way to determine that, by observing behavior. If the robot runs away from object X then it is probably afraid of it, if it attacks it then the robot is probably angry at it, and if it spends little processing power thinking about it then it probably finds object X to be rather boring. This is exactly precisely the same test that we use to determine the feelings in our fellow human beings because it is the only test known to determine the inner life of others. And don't start listing the flaws this test has, I know it has flaws, but it's all we've got so we've just got to make the best of it. > > This is essentially the legal definition: free will = absence of > coercion. > Then nobody has free will because there are always physical or logical constraints on what we can do regardless of how powerful our wish to do them might be. John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
